Austria
September 2007
(A 10 year anniversary trip for Elaine and I. We had a great time hiking in the mountains of Austria!)


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Our two week trip started in Vienna, where we were able to explore the city on foot, seeing the Kunsthistorisches Museum (Museum of Fine Arts), Schatzkammer Meuseum (Imperial treasury) and St. Stephen's Cathedral (Stephansdom). After a couple of days surveying Vienna we hopped a train to Innsbruck and finally a bus to the small town of Neustift in the Stubiar Alps to begin our hiking holiday. Unfortunately the weather didn't cooperate with our plans to trek the Stubiar Hohenweg (an 8 day hut to hut tour), raining down in the Neustift valley and dumping copious amounts of snow on the high mountain passes the first couple of days we were in town. The snow up high was a deal breaker as crossing the various passes was essential to trekking between the huts. We altered our plans and made day hikes instead, which between the nice atmosphere at the Pension Mondail (our hotel) and the creature comforts in Neustift, ended up being an excellent adaptation of our original plans and afforded us many of the same views as the Stubiar Hohenweg. Days were spent hiking, and evenings were spent exploring the Tyrolian culinary delights in Neustift. It was a great way to rekindle our old backpacker spirit with the modern luxuries of Europe. Eventually the pull of our new adventure in life, Sierra and Cooper, took hold and sent us scrambling back to the nearest airport (Innsbruck) and home. We would like to take the time to thank our parents (Grandma Nita, Grandpa Bill, Grandma Carol and Papa Howard) for taking time out of their schedules to watch the kids and making this trip possible for Elaine and I. We couldn't have done it without you! Also, Sierra and Cooper deserve thanks for allowing us to leave for two weeks, although I'm sure all of the grandparent spoiling helped to ease the "pain" of Elaine and I being gone. |
Click on the thumbnail images to enlarge
Below are some links to a few short (low quality) videos from our trip.
Walking down the Stephensdom tower stairs
Listening to the choirs practice in Stephensdom
Morning wake up bells (7:30am) in Neustift
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